PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- The only question the record crowd at Rutgers Stadium needed an answer to was: "Where's Chris Simms?"

Texas was about to run off the final minutes of a tougher-than-expected 38-21 victory over Rutgers on Saturday night when Simms, the New Jersey prep star from Franklin Lakes, N.J., and son of former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, finally trotted onto the field with 5:48 left.

	David Griffin and Rutgers couldn't throw Texas quarterback Major Applewhite off his game on Saturday.

He was booed. He handed off. He was booed again, He dropped back to pass, fumbled, but No. 23 Texas (unranked in AP poll) recovered. He was booed again.

"There was really nothing I could do about the reaction by the crowd," said Simms after playing the final two series in relief of Major Applewhite, who threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns. "I was anxious to get home. It was nice to see old faces."

For the Longhorns (2-1), it was just nice to win, even though the victory was not overpowering.

"The only thing that was important was the 'W,'" Texas coach Mack Brown said. "Even if it were 14-0, I would still be excited. This wasn't an ugly win."

Texas also turned two botched punts into touchdowns as they built a 28-6 halftime lead. But the Scarlet Knights (0-2) fought back with two TDs in the second half to keep the score respectable.

Applewhite completed 19 of 32 passes, and now has 913 yards and six TDs for the season. He threw TD passes of 28 yards to Mike Jones and 21 yards to Montrell Flowers in a 3:10 span of the second quarter to put the Longhorns ahead 21-3.

"I felt we stayed focused, but we just didn't execute as well as we could have in the second half," Applewhite said. "We played well in the first quarter to build the early lead."

For Rutgers, Steve Barone kicked field goals of 23 and 41 yards in the first half, and fullback Scott Stanton scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter and Mike McMahon threw a 5-yard TD pass to Rob Ring in the fourth.

Texas wasted little time taking a 7-0 lead on a blocked punt on the fourth play of the game. Terrol Dillon raced up the middle and blocked Titus' punt at the Scarlet Knights 10, and Jeremy Jones caught the ball on a bounce and ran 11 yards for the score 62 seconds into the game. Dillon blocked two punts against Stanford last week.

Rutgers made it 7-3 on Barone's 23-yard field goal set up by McMahon's 40-yard pass to L.J. Smith. Just before the completion, Jacki Crooks ran 35 yards for an apparent TD, but the play was called back when the Scarlet Knights were penalized for holding.

Applewhite then led the Longhorns on two short scoring drives that took a total of 3:10. First, he hit Jones with a 28-yard scoring pass and came back on the next possession with a 21-yard TD pass to Flowers.

The Longhorns extended the lead to 28-3 on a 30-yard run by Ike before the Scarlet Knights got another field goal from Barone, a 41-yarder late in the half.

Texas went ahead 31-6 on Kris Stockton's 27-yard field goal, and after Stanton's TD, the Longhorns made it 38-14 on Chris Robertson's 1-yard run. The score came four plays after Titus fumbled the long snap and Texas' Marcus Wilkins recovered the ball on the Scarlet Knights 3.

"You cannot play head to head with Texas when you have a punt blocked and another one muffed," Rutgers coach Terry Shea said. "The bottom line is we're 0-2. Sometimes we didn't play like we're 0-2, but now our charge is to get to 1-2."